Day 29: The Perfect Halloween to Christmas movie doesn’t exis-
October 29, 2022
Dear Disney,
Today is the last weekend until Halloween. Darling and I have decided to review two classics and new movie for the last three days of 31 Days of Disney Halloween. Today’s classic is the sleeper hit of the century, Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas.
I never watched this movie until I grew up. This movie was considered too dark and “evil” for my family. I had no idea what I was missing. Finally, in high school, Darling introduced me to this movie, and I was amazed. When growing up, Darling related to Sally: lovelorn with a feeling of always being over-looked.
Darling loves the art direction this movie brings forward and she cannot be the only one. It has been almost three decades since the movie was created and the Disney company has made millions of dollars in merchandise and even has an annual Halloween bash, the Oogie Boogie Bash, at Disney California Adventure.
Darling says that she sees some inspiration from the artist Edward Gorey in some of Burton’s elements, whether he actually took that inspiration we shall never know. The too tall figure in Jack and the backgrounds: trees without leaves and desolation. Every time we watch it we find something new. I cannot count how many times since high school, or how many times Darling has watched it, yet we still find new things. We never noticed that in the scene of the Holiday Trees that the steps leading up to each were made up that holidays theme: toadstools leading up to St. Patrick’s Day and presents leading up to Christmas.
Darling has said she’s always been fascinated by this movie. The only other stop-motion movies she had ever watched were the Rankin-Bass Christmas productions, and this was nothing like it. Like a take on a scary Christmas. This was dark and scary, yet not so scary that it was horrific. The audience is still able to cheer on Jack for his attempt to make Christmas, even though it was doomed from the onset.
Modern stop-motion, like ParaNorman or Kubo and the Two Strings, are so crisp, clean, and polished. The audience is lulled into a sense that what you are watching is NOT stop motion. Nightmare Before Christmas is not polished. If you look closely, you can see the strings on the puppets and fingerprints in the clay. Instead of being a detriment, this lack of polish increases the authenticity and sheer amount of hard work that went into this film.
Lastly, no one can review Nightmare Before Christmas without talking about the witty dialogue and amazing music. In my opinion, this movie is one of Caroline Thompson’s, the screenplay writer, best work. The language between songs portrays the characters ambitions perfectly. The amazing Danny Elfman shines. From a singer/songwriter for the New Wave band Oingo Boingo to one of the more prolific Movie Score writers are not the most “normal” progression. HIs music is haunting, and his lyrics are keen and beautiful.
Sincerely,
Jim Dear and Darling
